Methods and systems for differential based backups

ABSTRACT

Techniques described herein relate to a method for generating synthetic full backups. The method may include obtaining a snapshot associated with a previous backup stored in a data domain; obtaining a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generating a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot and including a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; storing a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; performing a delete operation on the copy based on the delete list; performing a rename operation on the copy based on the rename list; and performing a copy operation based on the copy list. In one or more embodiments, performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.

BACKGROUND

Computing devices often exist in ecosystems that include any number of devices. Devices in such a device ecosystem may perform a variety of workloads. In certain scenarios, data from such devices may be backed up to a target data domain. However, for large data sets (e.g., a Hadoop Distributed File System), full backups of all data may be expensive (e.g., time-consuming, resource intensive, etc.).

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments described herein relate to a method for generating synthetic full backups. The method may include obtaining a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in a data domain; obtaining a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generating a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; storing a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; performing a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; performing a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and performing a copy operation based on the copy list. In one or more embodiments, performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.

In general, embodiments described herein relate to a non-transitory computer readable medium that includes computer readable program code, which, when executed by a computer processor enables, the computer processor to perform a method for generating synthetic full backups. The method may include obtaining a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in a data domain; obtaining a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generating a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; storing a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; performing a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; performing a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and performing a copy operation based on the copy list. In one or more embodiments, performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.

In general, embodiments described herein relate to a system for generating synthetic full backups. The system may include a processor comprising circuitry; memory; and a source node operatively connected to a data domain, executing on the processor and using the memory. The source node may be configured to obtain a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in a data domain; obtain a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generate a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; store a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; perform a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; perform a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and perform a copy operation based on the copy list. Performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup may generate a first synthetic full backup of the source data.

Other aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Certain embodiments discussed herein will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain aspects or implementations of embodiments described herein by way of example and are not meant to limit the scope of the claims.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a system in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a source device in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method for generating synthetic full backups in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 4 shows a computing system in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Specific embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.

In the below description, numerous details are set forth as examples of embodiments described herein. It will be understood by those skilled in the art (who also have the benefit of this Detailed Description) that one or more embodiments described herein may be practiced without these specific details, and that numerous variations or modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the embodiments described herein. Certain details known to those of ordinary skill in the art may be omitted to avoid obscuring the description.

In the below description of the figures, any component described with regard to a figure, in various embodiments described herein, may be equivalent to one or more like-named components described with regard to any other figure. For brevity, descriptions of these components may not be repeated with regard to each figure. Thus, each and every embodiment of the components of each figure is incorporated by reference and assumed to be optionally present within every other figure having one or more like-named components. Additionally, in accordance with various embodiments described herein, any description of the components of a figure is to be interpreted as an optional embodiment, which may be implemented in addition to, in conjunction with, or in place of the embodiments described with regard to a corresponding like-named component in any other figure.

Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in the application). The use of ordinal numbers is not to imply or create any particular ordering of the elements, nor to limit any element to being only a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as by the use of the terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology. Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between the elements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from a second element, and the first element may encompass more than one element and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering of elements.

Throughout this application, elements of figures may be labeled as A to N. As used herein, the aforementioned labeling means that the element may include any number of items and does not require that the element include the same number of elements as any other item labeled as A to N. For example, a data structure may include a first element labeled as A and a second element labeled as N. This labeling convention means that the data structure may include any number of the elements. A second data structure, also labeled as A to N, may also include any number of elements. The number of elements of the first data structure and the number of elements of the second data structure may be the same or different.

As used herein, the phrase operatively connected, or operative connection, means that there exists between elements/components/devices a direct or indirect connection that allows the elements to interact with one another in some way. For example, the phrase ‘operatively connected’ may refer to any direct (e.g., wired directly between two devices or components) or indirect (e.g., wired and/or wireless connections between any number of devices or components connecting the operatively connected devices) connection. Thus, any path through which information may travel may be considered an operative connection.

In general, embodiments described herein relate to methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable mediums storing instructions for generating synthetic full backups of source data in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

In one or more embodiments, a collection of one or more source devices generate, obtain, and/or otherwise store data. As an example, an instance of Hadoop may include any number of source nodes, in which exists a Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS). To protect such data, backup instances of the data may be generated and stored in backup storage, such as a target data domain storing any number of backups from any number of source devices. However, backing up all of the data from the one or more source devices may be expensive in a variety of ways, such as, for example, time, resource usage, cost, etc.

To address at least the aforementioned problem with generating full backup copies of source data, while still maintaining point-in-time full backup copies of source data, snapshots of the data are used to create difference reports, which are then used to transform a copy of a previous backup into a current full synthetic backup.

In one or more embodiments, when a scheme for protecting source data via backup copies of the data, an initial full backup is performed, which creates a backup copy of the source data in a target data domain. During performance of the backup (e.g., prior to the copying of data to the data domain), a snapshot of the data may be generated on the source device(s). In one or more embodiments, a snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the file system in which the source data is stored.

Sometime later (e.g., pursuant to a schedule, on demand, etc.), in one or more embodiments, it may be desired that a second backup copy of the source data is stored, which includes a copy of the source data at the later point in time. In one or more embodiments, to create the backup of the source data at the later point in time, the snapshot of the previous backup is obtained from the source device(s), along with a current snapshot of the source data. In one or more embodiments, the two snapshots are used to generate a difference report. In one or more embodiments, a difference report includes, but is not limited to, information indicating the portions (i.e., files, folders, etc.) of the source data that were deleted since the last backup, renamed since the last backup, created since the last backup and/or modified since the last backup.

In one or more embodiments, the difference report is used to more efficiently generate a full synthetic backup without re-copying all of the source data. To generate a full synthetic backup of source data, a copy of the previous backup in the data domain is created and stored in the data domain. In one or more embodiments, the difference report is first used to determine which files and/or folders were deleted from the source data since the last backup, and such files and/or folders are deleted from the copy of the previous backup in the data domain. Next, in one or more embodiments, the difference report is used to determine which files and/or folders of the source data were renamed since the last backup, and such files and or folders are correspondingly renamed in the copy of the previous backup in the data domain. In one or more embodiments, at this point in the process, all deletes and renames that have occurred in the source data since the last backup are reflected in the copy of the backup in the target data domain, without having to have copied any of the files or folders from the source device(s) to the data domain.

Next, in one or more embodiments, the difference report is used to identify all files and/or folders that were created and/or modified since the last backup was performed. In one or more embodiments, the copied and/or modified files and/or folders are added to a copy list. In one or more embodiments, the copy list is used as input for a copy operation, which copies the files and/or folders of the copy list to the copy of the previous backup in the data domain. In one or more embodiments, during the copy operation, the created files and/or folders are added to the backup copy, and the modified files and/or folders are overwritten. In one or more embodiments, any permissions and/or attributes for the created files and modified files are also associated with the copies of the files and/or folders in the data domain backup copy of the source data. In one or more embodiments, after the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation for the created and/or modified files and/or folders, the copy of the previous backup in the data domain has been transformed into a synthetic full backup of the current state of the source data, with the only actual copying of source data being the copying of the created and/or modified files and/or folders.

In one or more embodiments, the above described process may continue for any period of time. In one or more embodiments, each time a new backup is required or desired, a snapshot of the previous backup and a snapshot of the current state of the source data are used to create a difference report, which is used to perform operations on a copy of the previous backup in the data domain to produce a new full synthetic backup, which will become a previous backup relative to the next backup to be performed.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a system in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. The system may include a data domain (100) operatively connected to any number of source nodes (e.g., source node A (102), source node N (104)). Each of these components is described below.

In one or more embodiments, the source nodes (102, 104) may be computing devices. In one or more embodiments, as used herein, a source node (102, 104) is any computing device, collection of computing devices, portion of one or more computing devices, or any other logical grouping of computing resources. In one or more embodiments, a source node (102, 104) is part of a device ecosystem, which may include any number of nodes, devices, components, etc. In one or more embodiments, a device ecosystem is a collection of devices, components, etc. arranged and/or operatively connected in any manner, and in which any number of workloads may be executed. One example of a device ecosystem is a Hadoop instance (e.g., a Hadoop cluster), which may include any number of source nodes (102, 104). Other types of device ecosystems may be used without departing from the scope of embodiments described herein.

In one or more embodiments, as discussed above, a source node (102, 104) may be a computing device, a portion of a computing device, a set of computing devices, etc. In one or more embodiments, a computing device is any device, portion of a device, or any set of devices capable of electronically processing instructions and may include, but is not limited to, any of the following: one or more processors (e.g. components that include integrated circuitry) (not shown), memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM)) (not shown), input and output device(s) (not shown), non-volatile storage hardware (e.g., solid-state drives (SSDs), hard disk drives (HDDs) (not shown)), one or more physical interfaces (e.g., network ports, storage ports) (not shown), one or more data processing units (DPUs), any number of other hardware components (not shown), and/or any combination thereof.

Examples of computing devices include, but are not limited to, a server (e.g., a blade-server in a blade-server chassis, a rack server in a rack, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile device (e.g., laptop computer, smart phone, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, automobile computing system, and/or any other mobile computing device), a storage device (e.g., a disk drive array, a fibre channel storage device, an Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) storage device, a tape storage device, a flash storage array, a network attached storage device, etc.), a network device (e.g., switch, router, multi-layer switch, etc.), a virtual machine, a virtualized computing environment, a logical container (e.g., for one or more applications), and/or any other type of computing device with the aforementioned requirements. In one or more embodiments, any or all of the aforementioned examples may be combined to create a system of such devices, which may collectively be referred to as a computing device or source node (102, 104). Other types of computing devices may be used without departing from the scope of embodiments described herein.

In one or more embodiments, the non-volatile storage (not shown) and/or memory (not shown) of a computing device or system of computing devices may be and/or include one or more data repositories for storing any number of data structures storing any amount of data (i.e., information). In one or more embodiments, a data repository is any type of storage unit and/or device (e.g., a file system, database, collection of tables, RAM, and/or any other storage mechanism or medium) for storing data. Further, the data repository may include multiple different storage units and/or devices. The multiple different storage units and/or devices may or may not be of the same type or located at the same physical location.

Such software and/or firmware may include instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors (not shown) or other hardware (e.g. circuitry) of a computing device and/or system of computing devices, cause the one or more processors and/or other hardware components to perform operations in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein.

The software instructions may be in the form of computer readable program code to perform methods of embodiments as described herein, and may, as an example, be stored, in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently, on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), storage device, diskette, tape storage, flash storage, physical memory, or any other non-transitory computer readable medium.

In one or more embodiments, source nodes (102, 104) store data, which the source nodes may generate or otherwise obtain. As an example, the source nodes (102, 104) may be configured as a Hadoop cluster. As such, the source nodes may collectively store a HDFS, which may be referred to as source data. Source nodes are discussed further in the description of FIG. 2 , below

In one or more embodiments, the system also includes a data domain (100). In one or more embodiments, the data domain (100) is operatively connected to the source nodes (102, 104). In one or more embodiments, the data domain (100) includes one or more computing devices (described above). In one or more embodiments, a data domain (100) includes any amount of data storage of any type for storing data in any form. In one or more embodiments, the data domain (100) stores any number of backup copies of the source data of the source nodes (102, 104). At least a portion of the backup copies of the source data stored in the data domain are synthetic full backups created, at least in part, using techniques described herein. In one or more embodiments, a data domain (100) to which source data is backed up may be referred to as a target data domain.

In one or more embodiments, the source nodes (102, 104) and the data domain (100) are operatively connected via a network (not shown). A network may refer to an entire network or any portion thereof (e.g., a logical portion of the devices within a topology of devices). A network may include a datacenter network, a wide area network, a local area network, a wireless network, a cellular phone network, and/or any other suitable network that facilitates the exchange of information from one part of the network to another. A network may be located at a single physical location, or be distributed at any number of physical sites. In one or more embodiments, a network may be coupled with or overlap, at least in part, with the Internet.

While FIG. 1 shows a configuration of components, other configurations may be used without departing from the scope of embodiments described herein. Accordingly, embodiments disclosed herein should not be limited to the configuration of components shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a source node (200) in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. Source node (200) may include any number of components. As shown in FIG. 2 , the source node (200) includes a source device agent (202) and storage (208). In one or more embodiments, the storage (208) includes data structure(s) (204) and snapshot(s) (206). Each of these components is described below.

Source node (200) may be similar, at least in part, to source nodes (102, 104) shown in FIG. 1 and discussed above. However, embodiments of the invention do not require that all source nodes are the same, or that all source nodes perform the same functionality. Instead, in one or more embodiments, certain source nodes (e.g., source node (200)) may be configured to perform additional, less, and/or different functionality and/or components. As an example, a device ecosystem may include any number of virtual machines configured as a Hadoop cluster. Each such virtual machine may be considered a source node, although the virtual machines perform different roles (e.g., master node, worker node, client node, name node, data node, etc.) within the Hadoop cluster, because each such virtual machine may include, contribute to, manage, etc. part of the HDFS (i.e., the source data to be backed up) associated with the Hadoop cluster. Thus, in one or more embodiments, at least one source node in the device ecosystem that includes the source nodes may be as shown in FIG. 2 (i.e., source node (200)) and described herein, but all source nodes need not be. In one or more embodiments, source nodes have in common that they store and/or are associated with data (e.g., a HDFS) that is to be backed up to a data domain (e.g., data domain (100) of FIG. 1 ) from time to time.

In one or more embodiments, a source node (200) is a computing device, as discussed above in the description of FIG. 1 .

In one or more embodiments, the source node (200) includes a source device agent (202). In one or more embodiments, a source device agent (202) is any hardware (e.g., circuitry), software, firmware, or any combination thereof that includes functionality to generate snapshots of source data, to produce difference reports using two such snapshots, and to perform operations on a copy of a previous backup stored in a data domain based on a difference report. The source device agent (202) may perform any other functionality (e.g., implementing protocols, services, features, etc. for a source node) without departing from the scope of embodiments described herein. One of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of this Detailed Description, will appreciate that a source device agent (202) may be computing device hardware (e.g., processor(s) memory, storage, etc.) on which computer readable program code executes to perform operations as described herein. One of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciate that a source device agent cannot exist solely as computer readable program code, as it is the combination of such program code with relevant hardware of the underlying computing device (e.g., source node 200) to create a special purpose computing device that allows for the program code, when executed using said hardware, to perform functionality as described herein. Such program code may be stored, for example, in any tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of the source node (200) to be accessed and executed to implement the source device agent (202). Certain aspects of functionality of the source device agent (202) is discussed further in the description of FIG. 3 , below

In one or more embodiments, the source device agent (202) is operatively connected to storage (208) of the source node (200). In one or more embodiments, the storage (208) is a data repository. In one or more embodiments, a data repository is any type of storage unit and/or device (e.g., a file system, database, collection of tables, RAM, and/or any other storage mechanism or medium) for storing data. Further, the data repository may include multiple different storage units and/or devices. The multiple different storage units and/or devices may or may not be of the same type or located at the same physical location.

In one or more embodiments, the storage (208) of source node (200) includes any number of data structures (204). In one or more embodiments, a data structure (204) is any format or organization of data, such as, for example, all or any portion of a file system (e.g., a HDFS). In one or more embodiments, the data structure (204) stores at least a portion of the source data to be backed up to a data domain.

In one or more embodiments, the storage (208) also includes snapshot(s) (206). In one or more embodiments, a snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a file system (e.g., a HDFS). Snapshot(s) (206) may include any number of snapshots, each corresponding to a point in time. In one or more embodiments, a snapshot of the current state of a file system may be referred to as a current snapshot. In one or more embodiments, a snapshot of a file system at a prior point in time may be referred to as a previous snapshot. One or more snapshots of the snapshot(s) (206) may correspond to a backup copy of the file system stored in a data domain. As an example, a snapshot may be generated by a source device agent (202) and used to perform an initial full backup of the file system to which the snapshot corresponds. As another example, a snapshot may be generated by a source device agent (202) sometime after an initial full backup has been performed using a previous snapshot that represents the current state of the file system, and such a snapshot may be used in generating a synthetic full backup using techniques described herein.

While FIG. 2 shows a configuration of components, other configurations may be used without departing from the scope of embodiments described herein. For example, although FIG. 2 shows all components as part of the same device, any of the components may be grouped in sets of one or more components which may exist and execute as part of any number of separate and operatively connected devices. As another example, a single component may be configured to perform all or any portion of the functionality performed by the components shown in FIG. 2 . Accordingly, embodiments disclosed herein should not be limited to the configuration of components shown in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart describing a method for generating synthetic full backups of source data in accordance with one or more embodiments disclosed herein.

While the various steps in the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 are presented and described sequentially, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, having the benefit of this Detailed Description, will appreciate that some or all of the steps may be executed in different orders, that some or all of the steps may be combined or omitted, and/or that some or all of the steps may be executed in parallel with other steps of FIG. 3 .

In Step 300, a first snapshot of source data is obtained and stored in storage of a source device. In one or more embodiments, a snapshot is a point-in-time copy of a file system. In one or more embodiments, a snapshot includes metadata associated with the source data. As an example, a snapshot may be a HDFS snapshot of a HDFS of a Hadoop cluster. In one or more embodiments, a snapshot is obtained by a source device agent executing on a source node generating the snapshot based on the source data. Source data may be all or any portion of data stored in any number of source devices. As such, a snapshot of source data may be a snapshot of all or any portion of such data. As an example, a HDFS snapshot may be a snapshot of all or any portion of a HDFS.

In Step 302, an initial full backup of the source data to a data domain is performed. In one or more embodiments, the initial full backup is a backup of all of the source data to any number of target data domain devices of a data domain. The initial full backup may be performed by creating a copy of the source data (e.g., a HDFS) stored in a data domain. In one or more embodiments, the initial full backup includes any amount of metadata (e.g., permissions, attributes, etc.) associated with the files and/or folders of the source data. In one or more embodiments, the initial full backup is performed using the snapshot generated in Step 300.

In Step 304, a request is received to perform another backup of the source data to the data domain. In one or more embodiments, the request is received by a source device agent of a source node. The request may be initiated, for example, by a user of the source nodes. As another example, the request may be initiated automatically pursuant to a configured backup schedule associated with the source data.

In Step 306, a second snapshot of the source data is obtained. In one or more embodiments, the second snapshot is obtained by a source device agent of a source node. In one or more embodiments, the second snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the file system of the source data at the point in time the snapshot is generated, which is later in time than the snapshot created in Step 300 prior to the initial full backup. The second snapshot may be referred to as a current snapshot of the source data

In Step 308, a snapshot difference report is generated. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report is generated by a source device agent of a source node. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report is generated using the second snapshot obtained in Step 306 and a previous snapshot of the source data associated with a previous point-in-time. In one or more embodiments, the previous snapshot is the first snapshot obtained in Step 300 and used to perform the initial full backup of the source data. In one or more embodiments, the previous snapshot is a snapshot of the source data at a point-in-time later than the first snapshot but prior to the second snapshot. In one or more embodiments, the previous snapshot is a snapshot of the source data taken prior to the last backup of the source data to the target domain before the second snapshot is generated. In one or more embodiments, the previous snapshot was used to perform the last backup prior to the obtaining of the second snapshot (i.e., at an earlier point in time). In one or more embodiments, the previous snapshot was used to generate a previous synthetic full backup.

In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report represents the differences in the source data from the time the previous snapshot was obtained and the time the second (i.e., current) snapshot was obtained. In one or more embodiments, the differences between the snapshots are represented in the snapshot difference report associated with four operations: delete, rename, create, and modify. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report includes a listing of files and/or folders that were deleted from the source data since the previous snapshot was taken. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report includes a listing of files and/or folders that were renamed in the source data since the previous snapshot was taken. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report includes a listing of files and/or folders that were added to the source data (i.e., created) since the previous snapshot was taken. In one or more embodiments, the snapshot difference report includes a listing of the files and/or folders that were modified in the source data since the previous snapshot was taken. Modification of a file and/or folder of the source data may include, but is not limited to, changing the content of the file and/or folder, altering metadata (e.g., permissions, attributes, etc.) associated with the folder, or any combination thereof.

In Step 310, a copy of a previous backup is stored in the data domain. In one or more embodiments, the copy of the previous backup is a copy of the backup created using the previous snapshot. In one or more embodiments, the copy of the previous backup is a copy of the initial full backup. In one or more embodiments, the copy of the previous backup is a copy of the last synthetic full backup.

In Step 312, a delete operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup based on the snapshot difference report. In one or more embodiments, the delete operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup by the source device agent. In one or more embodiments, the delete operation includes deleting from the copy of the previous backup all the files and/or folders listed as deleted in the snapshot difference report generated in Step 308.

In Step 314, a rename operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup based on the snapshot difference report. In one or more embodiments, the rename operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup by the source device agent. In one or more embodiments, the rename operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup by the source device agent. In one or more embodiments, the rename operation includes renaming files and/or folders in the copy of the previous backup based on the listing of renamed files and/or folders in the snapshot difference report generated in Step 308.

In Step 316, a copy operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup based on the snapshot difference report. In one or more embodiments, the copy operation is performed on the copy of the previous backup by the source device agent. As an example, when the source data is a HDFS, the copy operation may be initiated using a distcp command in a Hadoop environment. In one or more embodiments, the copy operation includes adding to the copy of the previous backup all files and/or folders listed as created in the snapshot difference report generated in Step 308. In one or more embodiments, the copy operation includes overwriting any files and/or folders in the copy of the previous backup that are listed as modified in the snapshot difference report. In one or more embodiments, overwriting the modified files and/or folders in the copy of the previous backup causes the files and/or folders, after the overwriting, to be modified in the same way that the source data was modified, including changes to the content of the files and/or folders and to any metadata associated with the files and/or folders.

In one or more embodiments, after Step 316, the method ends, and the copy of the previous backup in the data domain has been transformed into a new synthetic full backup of the source data corresponding to the point in time at which the second snapshot was taken in Step 306. In one or more embodiments, a synthetic full backup is equivalent to a full backup of source data at a point in time, without having to copy all of the source data to a data domain, which is achieved using a snapshot difference report to perform operations on a copy of a previous backup. In one or more embodiments, a synthetic full backup may be used, for example, to restore the source data to the point-in-time copy of the source data represented by the synthetic full backup. Such a restoration need not include, for example, any lookups or amalgamation of incremental backups, as the synthetic full backup includes a copy of all of the source data.

Example

The above describes systems and methods for generating synthetic full backups in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention. Such embodiments may be used for generating any number of synthetic full backups of any type of source data of any number of source nodes, and storing the one or more synthetic full backups in a data domain. However, for the sake of brevity and simplicity, consider the following simplified scenario to illustrate at least a portion of the concepts described herein.

Consider a scenario in which a device ecosystem includes a Hadoop cluster of virtual machines (i.e., source nodes) and an associated HDFS (i.e., source data). In such a scenario, at a point in time, a first snapshot is taken of the HDFS by a source device agent executing on one of the virtual machines of the cluster. The first snapshot is used to perform an initial full backup of the HDFS to a data domain. Due to the size of the HDFS, the initial full backup takes a long time to perform, and consumes a considerable amount of compute resources. The initial full backup is performed using distcp, and copies all of the files and folders of the HDFS to the data domain.

A backup schedule is configured for the HDFS that triggers (i.e., requests) a backup to be performed every twelve hours. However, the initial full backup took longer than 12 hours to perform, due to the amount of data that had to be copied from the HDFS to the data domain. In order to meet the backup schedule, techniques described herein are used to reduce the time necessary for backing up the HDFS by generating synthetic full backups at the scheduled times instead of full backups. As discussed above, a synthetic full backup is equivalent to a full backup of source data at a point in time, without having to copy all of the source data to a data domain, which is achieved using a snapshot difference report to perform operations on a copy of a previous backup. In one or more embodiments, a synthetic full backup may be used, for example, to restore the source data to the point in time copy of the source data represented by the synthetic full backup. Such a restoration need not include, for example, any lookups or amalgamation of incremental backups, as the synthetic full backup includes a copy of all of the source data.

To generate a synthetic full backup at the first scheduled backup time after the initial full backup, a source device agent executing in the Hadoop cluster obtains a first snapshot associated with the initial full backup, and a second snapshot of the current state of the HDFS. Next, the source device agent uses the two snapshots to generate a snapshot difference report. The snapshot difference report includes listings of files and/or folders that were deleted from the source data in the time between the two snapshots, renamed in the source data in the time between the two snapshots, created in (i.e., added to) the source data in the time between the two snapshots, and modified in the source data in the time between the two snapshots.

Next, the source device agent causes a copy of the initial full backup to be stored in the data domain. Next, the source device agent uses the listing of the deleted files and/or folders in the snapshot difference report to cause the deletion (i.e., perform a delete operation) of corresponding files and/or folders in the copy of the initial full backup. Next, the source device agent uses the listing of renamed files and/or folders in the snapshot difference report to rename files and/or folders in the copy of the initial full backup (i.e., perform a rename operation). Next, the source device agent uses the listing of created and modified files and/or folders in the snapshot difference report to create a copy list of files and/or folders to be copied to the data domain. The created files and/or folders are copied to the data domain and added to the copy of the initial full backup. The modified files and/or folders are copied to the data domain and used to overwrite the existing copies of the modified files and/or folders in the copy of the initial full backup.

At this point in the scenario, the copy of the initial full backup has been transformed into a synthetic full backup of the HDFS at the point in time that the second snapshot was taken, with the only actual copying of data being the copying of the created and modified files and/or folders listed in the snapshot difference report. As such, the creation of the synthetic full backup took considerably less time than twelve hours. Also at this point in the scenario, the data domain includes two point-in-time full backup copies of the source data at different points in time, instead of only one full backup and any number of incremental backups, which would require additional time and resources to amalgamate into a full current backup if a restore operation was requested for the HDFS.

The next time a backup is scheduled to occur in this scenario (i.e., twelve hours later), a similar process is performed, in which the previous backup is the synthetic full backup and the previous snapshot used to create the snapshot difference report is the snapshot associated with said synthetic full backup. This process may be repeated for as long as the backup schedule for the HDFS is being run, thereby generating any number of full backups of the source data at different points in time without having to copy the source data in its entirety or, when a restore operation is requested, waste the resources necessary to amalgamate incremental backups to perform the restore of the HDFS.

End of Example

As discussed above, embodiments described herein may be implemented using computing devices. FIG. 4 shows a diagram of a computing device in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein. The computing device (400) may include one or more computer processors (402), non-persistent storage (404) (e.g., volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory), persistent storage (406) (e.g., a hard disk, an optical drive such as a compact disk (CD) drive or digital versatile disk (DVD) drive, a flash memory, etc.), a communication interface (412) (e.g., Bluetooth interface, infrared interface, network interface, optical interface, etc.), input devices (410), output devices (408), and numerous other elements (not shown) and functionalities. Each of these components is described below.

In one or more embodiments, the computer processor(s) (402) may be an integrated circuit for processing instructions. For example, the computer processor(s) may be one or more cores or micro-cores of a processor. The computing device (400) may also include one or more input devices (410), such as a touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, microphone, touchpad, electronic pen, or any other type of input device. Further, the communication interface (412) may include an integrated circuit for connecting the computing device (400) to a network (not shown) (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, mobile network, or any other type of network) and/or to another device, such as another computing device.

In one or more embodiments, the computing device (400) may include one or more output devices (408), such as a screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, touchscreen, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, projector, or other display device), a printer, external storage, or any other output device. One or more of the output devices may be the same or different from the input device(s). The input and output device(s) may be locally or remotely connected to the computer processor(s) (402), non-persistent storage (404), and persistent storage (406). Many different types of computing devices exist, and the aforementioned input and output device(s) may take other forms.

The problems discussed above should be understood as being examples of problems solved by embodiments described herein, and the various embodiments should not be limited to solving the same/similar problems. The disclosed embodiments are broadly applicable to address a range of problems beyond those discussed herein.

While embodiments discussed herein have been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this Detailed Description, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of embodiments as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of embodiments described herein should be limited only by the attached claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating synthetic full backups, the method comprising: obtaining a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in a data domain; obtaining a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generating a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; storing a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; performing a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; performing a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and performing a copy operation based on the copy list, wherein performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the previous backup is an initial full backup.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the previous backup is a second synthetic full backup.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the source data is a Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the copy list comprises files and folders created or modified since the previous backup was generated.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the copy operation comprises: building the copy list using a create list and a modify list from the snapshot difference report; and executing a copy files operation to copy files listed in the copy list to the data domain.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the copy operation comprises syncing metadata stored in the first synthetic full backup with source data metadata associated with the source data at a point in time when the second snapshot was generated.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the delete operation comprises deleting at least one file or folder from the copy of the previous backup.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the rename operation comprises renaming at least one file or folder in the copy of the previous backup.
 10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor enables the computer processor to perform a method for generating synthetic full backups, the method comprising: obtaining a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in a data domain; obtaining a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generating a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; storing a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; performing a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; performing a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and performing a copy operation based on the copy list, wherein performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the previous backup is an initial full backup.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the previous backup is a second synthetic full backup.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the source data is a Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
 14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the copy list comprises files and folders created or modified since the previous backup was generated.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein performing the copy operation comprises: building the copy list using a create list and a modify list from the snapshot difference report; and executing a copy files operation to copy files listed in the copy list to the data domain.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein performing the copy operation comprises syncing metadata stored in the first synthetic full backup with source data metadata associated with the source data at a point in time when the second snapshot was generated.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein performing the delete operation comprises deleting at least one file from the copy of the previous backup.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein performing the rename operation comprises renaming at least one file or folder in the copy of the previous backup.
 19. A system for generating synthetic full backups, the system comprising: a processor comprising circuitry; memory; and a source node operatively connected to a data domain, executing on the processor and using the memory, and configured to: obtain a first snapshot associated with a previous backup of source data, wherein the previous backup is stored in the data domain; obtain a second snapshot associated with a current state of the source data; generate a snapshot difference report using the first snapshot and the second snapshot, wherein the snapshot difference report comprises a delete list, a rename list, and a copy list; store a copy of the previous backup in the data domain; perform a delete operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the delete list; perform a rename operation on the copy of the previous backup based on the rename list; and perform a copy operation based on the copy list, wherein performing the delete operation, the rename operation, and the copy operation on the copy of the previous backup generates a first synthetic full backup of the source data.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the previous backup is an initial full backup. 